Tally Marks
by Carolina-not-Caroline
Summary: "Beth Greene tallied her back every fourteen of the month and had been doing so for the last twelve months after her first time, and he was intrigued every time she walked out of his door". AU. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

She went in every month to get a tally mark on her back and just that.

Correction she always went in the fourteen day of each month to get a tally mark tattooed on her back and nothing more.

The first time she went in Beth –Beth is her name- she made him tally twenty four marks on her back. He didn't ask why and she didn't explain. He just tattooed her back; that was his job. Though he wasn't going to lie, he wanted to know.

Beth Greene, the good girl as she was known, intrigued him, and he was always left with a curiosity towards her, who wore sundresses, radiated sunshine, and who didn't seem like the type of girl who get tattoos or so many at that.

Beth Greene tallied her back every fourteen of the month and had been doing so for the last twelve months after her first time, and he was intrigued every time she walked out of his door.

Then, one day, he saw her outside his tattoo parlor, and everything changed.

She was dressed in the dinner uniform all the waiters at Lolis Diner wore, a dull orange dress that ate her petite frame. She wore a trained smile, and even though she did look worn out after the dinner rush she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

He noticed her beauty the first time she walked into his parlor.

She strode in with confidence. With determination set in her face she told him what she wanted, where she wanted it, and did not squirm once when he place his needle on her skin. Her beautiful, pale, soft skin that had him mesmerized, that he wish he could touch more of.

Anyways the first time they saw each other outside his tattoo parlor, outside the smell of the sterilizer he used, and the hundreds of Polaroid's that displayed his previous works, she smiled at him that beautiful smile only Beth Greene could produce.

"Hey," she greeted him with a blush, "I thought you only lived in that tattoo parlor of yours. You know since I have never seen you outside of it and this a small town and all."

And a small town theirs sure was.

In their town everybody knew about everybody. The gossip in their town was what the people thrived on; lived off. Rumors there were spread faster than the speed of light, and secrets were never secrets.

That was the reason Daryl preferred the secluded life of a hermit. Only going back and forth between his home and his parlor, going only to the grocery to store when necessary or when he ran out of smokes and lunch at the diner.

And he liked his life like that. The rumors and the gossip were already ridiculous in their town and he's a Dixon so for him those things were worse than for anyone else. He never paid any mind to what the town people said. Said about him. They always had words for anyone that was odd or eccentric or a rebel. So he would have known sooner about the meaning of those tally marks Beth paid him to tattoo on her back if he hadn't chosen to remain ignorant with his tunnel vision life.

"My brother made me go out tonight," Daryl replied after he realized that he was just staring at her, "He's tired of seeing me live like a hermit, and I was tired of his nagging so I came here."

Here being Lolis Diner. The diner that had the best cheese burgers in town, the epicenter where rumors commenced and apparently the place where Beth worked as an afternoon waitress too.

"And where is the nagging brother then?" Beth asked as she giggled at his response and after she took his order and served him a coke.

"Late, like usual," Daryl replied enjoying her giggle and wondering why with her he didn't answer with grunts and looks like he usually does.

And when he thought about it later he would realized that his peculiar conversations with Beth Greene happened because she was like no other.

Beth was eccentric and odd and rebel on his eyes because tattoos were frowned upon in their town, and she still got them.

Also Beth wasn't the type of girl who lived off gossip; most of the time the gossip was about her too. And he wasn't going to lie, Beth gave him an ease; a comfort that made him be honest with her and that caused knots to be tied in his stomach whenever he saw her or her skin, ready to be permanently marked by him.

"Well, I'm actually going on my break soon," she commented as she placed his cheeseburger order, "Would you mind if I join you?"

"Nah," he answered enjoying her blush for a second time, "I wouldn't mind."

And so she joined him after she retrieved his cheeseburger and a BLT for her.

During her thirty minute break they talked a lot. They talked as if they were longtime friends and not relative strangers who she got tattoos from or who he tattooed.

They conversed about his parlor and how he went to open it. She asked him what was the weirdest tattoo he had ever given, to which he answered "a silhouette of Tom Selleck in coffee."

He asked her how long she had been working at Lolis Dinner and if she knew what was that made the cheeseburgers awesome.

They conversed so much that he was grateful that Merle was a no show, because he preferred to spend his time with intriguing Beth Greene than his rude older brother.

And that was what he did for the record.

After his dinner with Beth at the diner a new friendship blossomed. They went on to see more each other in places that wasn't his parlor or the diner. And you know what he didn't miss the life of a hermit at all.

Instead of just going from point A to point B like he was accustomed, he started to go to point C and D and E and whatever point Beth and he agreed to meet.

He ate at Lolis Diner not just for lunch after that night.

No, Daryl Dixon could always be seen sitting at the dinner's counter near closing time and helping Beth mop the floor after. The two could be seen leaving the diner in his bike or at his parlor laughing and sketching new tattoo designs. (Which were always stick figures from Beth.)

And one would think that his intrigue for her would die after he spent more time with her. After she wasn't just a customer that went into his parlor every fourteen day of each month who made him tally her back.

That wasn't the case, however. As he got to spend more time with Beth the more he was intrigued, the more he became enamored.

He still didn't know why she tattooed her back with tally marks, but the question was forgotten after a while, because Beth Greene was more than the tally marks, he found out.

Most of his customers were just, that , customers. Customers that he permanently marked with ink and with sometimes meaningful pictures or words, or sometimes with just hands down stupid as fuck pictures or words.

(And just for the record he never misspelled a word.)

But Beth was more than that. A million, billion times more than that.

Beth was spontaneity. She always had surprises for him.

She was carefree laughter, and teasing.

Beth gave him compassion and understanding.

She gave him tattoo suggestions and late movie nights and songs sung just for him.

She gave him a life that wasn't one of loneliness.

She gave him love.

It had been six months since the dinner. He had since added six tally marks to her back.

By then their friendship moved past being that.

There was forehead touches and long stares into each other's blue eyes.

There was arguments and makeups and love making.

Incredible was their love making by the way. It was from another world.

He was always left with scratches on his back and she with bruises on her skin.

She was left with a sore throat from her screaming and he with sore knees (he could live in between her legs).

Their sheets were always left tangled, their rooms messy with clothes haphazardly thrown.

One thing about them was that when it came to having sex they weren't shy.

They made love in his parlor and behind the dinner. They made love on his bike and on her washer machine and in many eccentric and odd places. Places where rebels like them would only dare to make love.

They had just finished making love for the third time that night at Daryl's cabin when he finally found out what the tally marks meant.

Earlier that day they had fought.

Like most of life he was plagued by insecurities. They chased after him when he opened his parlor and when he tried to be more than what any other Dixon had ever been.

That particular day the insecurities that overwhelmed him were about her; their relationship.

They had been at the grocery store together and he happened to hear an old hag –one that lived off the gossip- scorn at their relationship and marvel about how Beth was ruining her life. Because yes Beth was odd, eccentric, and a rebel, but she was still too good for a guy like him; a Dixon.

And he believed that too sometimes. He believed that Beth was too good for him. She was too good for a guy with scars in his back and who preferred the companionship of the few than the many.

He believed that Beth was meant to be surrounded by people. She was light and light was meant to be shared and lived off, that was why fire was ignited after all. He believed Beth deserved much better than a guy who had skeletons in his closet placed there permanently by his father, and who would never live off the bad reputation bestowed upon him. Because yes he became more than what other Dixon's had ever been, but he still wasn't worth more. He was just a tattoo artist who lived the life of a hermit and felt sorry for himself.

However, Beth wouldn't have any of his bullshit.

"I'm not perfect, Daryl," she whispered into his skin as he stroked her nude back, that now had forty-two tally marks, "Please don't assume I am."

"I don't assume, girl," he replied. "I know you're perfect. Or at least too perfect for a guy like me."

"No, Daryl I am not perfect," she rose from her place on his side and added, "I have skeletons in my closet just like you do."

"I am not sugar and spice and everything nice. I am a girl who lost her mother and brother and couldn't take the pain."

Sitting up displaying her back to him she whispered, "You wanna know why tally my back?"

"I tally it because when I was sixteen I tried to kill myself. My mom and brother died. I couldn't take the pain and I thought death was the answer. But it wasn't…it's not. As soon as I cut my skin I regretted it. The pain in my skin was worse than the pain in my heart. "

Turning to face him she showed him her scar that she always kept hidden with bracelets. Softly grasping her arm he went on to kiss it whilst she went on to say,

"I tried to kill myself forty-two months ago, and I get the tally marks to remember what I did. To remember that I lived. That I choose to live."

"Daryl, I am not perfect. Nobody is. So please stop thinking that I'm better than you. Because I'm in no higher level than you."

And she was right, she wasn't.

Beth was light and love and everything that he never thought a guy like him would ever deserve. However, Beth was still as odd and as eccentric as him.

Beth was an imperfect perfect, and as he went to move her under him and go for round four of love making, he couldn't help but marvel at the enigma that she was. Because Beth was a fighter but also a lover.

Beth was the girl who would never cease to intrigue him, and the girl who choose to mark her back because she survived instead of hiding it because she did.

 **AN: This came thanks to Tumblr. Enjoy even though I'm not sure about whatever this is at all:)**


	2. Chapter 2

One day her mother and brother were home and the next day they were not.

Her family had been complete once; throwing barbecues, going to Tennessee for vacation, and just being happy.

But now it was just Maggie, her father, and her thanks to a reckless driver who was texting whilst driving, and who got to walk out of the wreck he caused completely unscathed. Not a single scratch was left on his body whilst her mother and brother were dead.

Right then and there, after her father received the news of the accident, she learned that life was unfair. She learned that no matter how well you follow the rules you aren't spared.

Her mother was a woman of God.

Shawn, as annoying as he might have been, never texted and drove, or drink and drove. He followed the rules, he knew the consequences.

Her mother and Shawn were kind souls, who did what was right and still death didn't spare them.

As for her, well after, she was numb. She felt nothing but despair in her heart, and she didn't see a point to live, not when her mother and brother were dead. Yes, she still had Maggie and her daddy, but the void in her heart that her mother and brother left was unfixable.

That was why she took a shred of her bathroom mirror and cut her wrist.

And immediately.

Immediately was how fast she regretted her actions.

As she saw her blood leave her body, she began to feel. It was as if cutting herself open, and spilling her blood, burst the dam that was her feelings, and she began to feel, and she began to rationalize; accept.

Yes, her mother and brother lost their lives unjustly, but that did not meant that death was the answer to end the pain their deaths left her with. Had she actually gone through with her actions she would've just created a cycle. Maggie and her daddy were already feeling the pain for losing Shawn and her mother (Maggie ran away and Hershel drank) and if she were to just leave them too she would leave them as a coward and more hurt than they were before.

Her mother always said that a person has to allow themselves to feel and live, and she was right.

And Beth was doing nothing but dishonoring her mother by not doing that.

That was why she found herself at Dixon's Tattoo Parlor.

She had waited two years to finally step foot in the place and she couldn't help but be nervous. Nevertheless she walked in with all the confidence she could muster and was met by Daryl Dixon.

Daryl just stared at her. She was sure he wanted to ask her if she was lost or something but he held his tongue.

"Hey," she greeted him, "I'm your 2 o'clock appointment. "

"Alright," Daryl replied whilst motioning for her to follow him to the back of the parlor, "Do you know what you want?"

"Yes," Beth answered as she followed, "I want you to tattoo twenty- four tally marks in my back."

Beth expected him to ask her why. Why she wanted twenty four tally marks on her back, but Daryl just nodded to her request, offered her a seat, and went to get his equipment ready.

Taking the seat he offered Beth watched as he went on to do his job. Daryl handled his equipment with precision and familiarity. It was the least thing to say, but the man knew what he was doing, and as for her she couldn't help but stare at his hands. They were thick, calloused, and worked, but as she thought about it later they were also the only hands that she would ever allow to place ink on her skin or touch it for that matter.

"Are you ready?" Daryl then inquired to her after he got everything ready.

"Yes," she answered and then went on to unbutton her blouse and turn around in her chair ready to be tattooed forever.

Feeling the needle touch her skin she rejoiced. The needle did sting and hurt, but she had felt worse pain before that she didn't squirm once. She was proud of herself because of that, because before she never fathomed she ever get a tattoo, they were, after all, disapproved by most in their town (only the rebels and drunks getting them) plus she was Beth Greene. She was known as the good girl, but good girls lived a monotone life, she found out, and she didn't want to be live that life anymore. She played by the rules all of her eighteen years and still she faced trials like others who didn't, so she decided to rebel. She wanted to get those tallies not just for her rebellion but also to honor her mother and brother.

A thing about Annette Greene.

Before she married her father, and it had been just her and Shawn, her mother had been an accountant. She once told her about how accountants had to pass the "Tally Test" to see if they were actually proficient at the job.

Basically what they had to do was count consecutive tally sticks, and indicate the amount of debt or payment a pseudo debtor retained and the pseudo creditor retained. Her mother said it was an easy test if you were good with handling a bunch of marks symbolizing numbers. Her mother passed her test with passing color by the way, and Shawn who had been studying to become an accountant too always passed the tests he made their mother give him.

And so that was how she decided to tattoo on her back tally marks. Not only the sticks symbolized the months she continued to live after she thought she wanted death, July 14, the tally also represented her mother and brother. They had bonded because of them and that meant a whole lot to her.

"All done," she heard Daryl say.

"Really?" Beth replied.

"Yeah."

"Wow," was all she could say then, because she did it. She got tallied and she got to honor her mother and brother. She felt tears pooling her eyes after that, but she held them back. She didn't want to cry in front of Daryl.

She knew about his family history. She knew that he was beat up by his father, and that he didn't have an easy life when he was young. She knew that Daryl Dixon was tough despite everything he ever endured, and that he wouldn't want to deal with a crying girl.

So after he showed her her tallies, covered her with gauze and gave her the ointment she would have to place over her tattoo, she went on to thank him. She wanted to do it profusely, but she held back, he had just done his job. Daryl had no idea what he had just done for her. That was why she just settled on paying him for his services and setting another appointment for the next month.

"At the same time?" Daryl asked looking at his calendar.

"And the same day," She answered.

"Alright Beth," he nodded, "See you then."

And so after that she began her new, not monotone life.

She had just graduated high school, and she decided not to jump straight into college taking a gap year instead to plant her feet in the world and see what happened.

She worked as a waitress at Lolis Dinner. She helped her daddy at the farm and at his veterinary practice. She visited Maggie in Atlanta. She visited her mother and brother at their graves. And she did whatever her heart consented, and every fourteenth day of each month she walked into Daryl Dixon's tattoo shop and added one tally to her back to have proof that she lived.

Beth did like so for four consecutive months each time rejoicing from the pain from Daryl's needle and also noticing the man more.

There was certainly more to Daryl Dixon that met the eye.

If anything Daryl's bad boy, rough guy demeanor was all a façade.

Through the four times she visited Daryl since her first time she got to see that Daryl was not as he was painted to be.

For one he was said to be irresponsible like his infamous brother Merle, but Daryl was not like that at all. His parlor was always tidy, clean, and sterilized whenever she visited. Everything in the parlor had its purpose and its place and she knew for sure that an irresponsible person would care less for logistics like that. The man owned the parlor after all how could he be irresponsible, honestly.

Also, there was Daryl's tenderness.

Whenever he got ready to tattoo her her tallies he always did so which such a tenderness that after she was done she missed it. He always touched her skin softly, and wherever he touched her he branded her skin, not only giving her tattoos but touches that mesmerized her at night whilst she laid in bed.

Because Daryl Dixon was handsome, she noticed the first time she walked into his parlor and actually got a good look at him.

He had been wearing his signature leather, angel wing vest, and his impressive arms were all in display. If she hadn't been too focused on her tattoos she would have actually been awkward around the man. She did have that tendency, but then she was determined and had tunnel vision for her mission, but as the months passed and she lived life more and opened her eyes, she noticed Daryl Dixon more and she couldn't help but develop a crush towards him.

That was why when he walked into the dinner that day, when Merle made him leave his house, she couldn't help but open her mouth and voice her surprise at seeing him there.

Daryl, she knew, was a man of routine.

He was either at his home, parlor, or the woods hunting. He valued his time and scowled at any customer that was late for an appointment. So seeing him at the dinner ordering a cheeseburger certainly shocked her, but she took the change of events as her opportunity to know him more that was why she joined him. She was after all being spontaneous, not monotone, and taking advantage of all the chances bestowed upon her.

So she joined him with her BLT and talked to him. And she was surprised to say the least when Daryl talked back to her.

She, also, knew that Daryl was short with people, only answering them with grunts or glares unless he was at his parlor, so having him answer all her questions and have him asking her questions back made her smile. It made her whole day that night actually, because she knew then and there that between Daryl and her was something.

There was something that had them seeing each other every day after their dinner at the diner. To her life she added the experiences Daryl Dixon had to offer and the man sure didn't disappoint.

Their whole gossipy town could blabber all they wanted about Daryl but she knew for sure that they were never to get the man right because Daryl Dixon was more than met the eye, remember.

Daryl was sweet, and adorably awkward when on the spot.

He was incredibly intelligent, and the man she wanted to be with incase the apocalypse were to happen.

He was a great artist, as well. She actually got to see his sketch books and his drawings were nothing but beautiful. Daryl Dixon had talent, and their town would never admit that.

He was a total child too, enjoying pranking his brother and having prank wars with his godson Carl Grimes.

However, Daryl was also insecure.

It sadden her that he was, because Daryl Dixon was incredible, but he didn't believe so. No, because of his neglectful father, who she hated as much as she hated the man who killed her mother and brother, destroyed any type of self-confidence Daryl had.

He told her how Will Dixon would destroy all of his art projects he brought home for school, and told him how art was for pansies. Daryl told her how she deserved a man who was better than he and who could give her more in life than what he could offer her, and she was always furious and sad when he said those things. Because Daryl gave her so much, but he never believed her.

No, Daryl had it set in stone the train of thought that said that she deserved the world. That she deserved luxury and extravagance. However, she didn't want all of that, because she knew that life was more than money and material things.

After her mother and brother passed away she learned that life was about happiness and doing what made you happy. She learned that life was loaned not given and that one has to follow their heart not the rules. And her heart wanted Daryl. Daryl who believed that the because the rules said that because she was a good girl she deserved a good man who wasn't him, but he was wrong because she wasn't a good. She was human and she made mistakes and she was just living her life.

And that was what she let him know, after he allowed the gossip in their town get to him and belittle him, her and their relationship.

Straddling his lap, Beth situated herself over Daryl, who was sitting against their bed's headboard, and lowered herself on him, rejoicing from the feeling of having him inside her.

They were going for round five of lovemaking that night, and each time was better than the last. Because Daryl Dixon was amazing at loving her and she was lucky gal because of that.

Embracing him as she grinded on him, Beth placed her lips on Daryl ear and went to say, "I love you."

"I love you, Daryl Dixon! I love you so much, so please just love me back. Forget about the rumors, forget about the gossip, forget about your past and the rules and just fucking love me Daryl."

And Daryl who held her tightly to him and who sped up, thrusting upwards into her replied,

"I love you Beth. God, I love you. Don't ever doubt that girl"

And as they came, she first and he second, she knew that they would be alright because they loved each other and they were happy and living their lives and not only the tallies in her back proved that.

No, the bruises in her skin proved she was living. The happiness she had with Daryl was proof she was living. And she knew that her mother and brother would have been proud of her, because she went on to live, and had forty-two tallies in her back and the despair she had had was gone.

 **AN: So out of nowhere I wanted to write this story from Beth's point of view and I'm not going to lie, I am glad that I wrote it. I like what I wrote for her here because I'm usually more comfortable writing in Daryl's point of view. I hope that you guys like it too. So please leave me a review if you guys may be so kind.**

 **P.S. The "Tally Test" is all made up. Idk if there is such a thing, I just made it up to link the tallies to Shawn and Annette too. So if you're an accountant I apologize for that I just took a creative liberty so I could write this.**


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